


a man once lost at sea

by annakaashi



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Flashbacks, Fluff, Kuroo Tetsurou is a Good Friend, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Break Up, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, Swearing, but not much I think, eventual Kuroo Tetsurou/Oikawa Tooru, fake date, i guess, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-03-03 16:00:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13344597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annakaashi/pseuds/annakaashi
Summary: Oikawa and Iwaizumi broke up, and Oikawa isn't sure if he can get over it. He tries to date, but that doesn't seem to help, and not even his friends can help him bounce back. When one of his dates stand him up, a messy haired guy becomes his knight-in-shining-armor and saves him from being embarrassed in front of his friends. Days later, the same guy is the one who hands him the coffee in the campus' coffee shop.Kuroo Tetsurou sees a young man around his age looking frantically at his phone when he steps into the restaurant. He decides to sit with him, and little does he know that that same man will come to the coffee shop he works in. After striking up a conversation with him, he finds out that this man had his heart broken, and over the course of two weeks the man (Oikawa) becomes his friend.And over the course of a few months, Kuroo falls in love with him while he's trying to help Oikawa get over Iwaizumi.***TEMPORARY HIATUS***





	1. hard times come, good times go

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!
> 
> So umm. I started my first multichap fic and I'm kinda excited and nervous at the same time because I love Oikuroo and I was really happy to start this fic but I don't know how frequently I can update with uni and stuff, but I'll try to update at least every two weeks.  
> This fic was inspired by _No Man Is An Island_ by The Script and the title is from _Kill the Lights_ by Set It Off (they are both amazing songs)  
> a big thanks to my friends Lili and Lilla for some of the ideas and always supporting me in my haikyuu madness <3  
> and a big thanks to you all who've come to check this fic out!  
> kudos and comments are always appreciated<3
> 
> hmu on [tumblr](just-a-racehorse-on-the-track.tumblr.com)

When Oikawa was 15, he fell hopelessly in love with his best friend. At that time, he didn’t think that anything would come out of that crush. So once, as he and his family were driving home from a family dinner at a restaurant, he was staring out the car’s window, and noticed something. When they got home, he quickly wrote those thoughts down into a notebook, and then promptly forgot about it.

But now, standing in the park, staring up at the night sky, he clearly remembers every word jotted down on the papers.

_Raindrops on the rearview mirror in the street lamps’ light look like a hundred thousand stars on the pitch-black night sky. But stars are permanent. They never fade away like the raindrops. Once you passed the last street lamp, the raindrops become invisible, just like they were never there._

_Some people are like raindrops, and some are like stars. They shine and then some of them fades away. They enter your life, make your days brighter and after a while they just leave, never looking back. And they don’t know they left a permanent mark on you that can never go away. You miss them, even if the stars are still there, shining down at you. (‘My only wish was that he’d never be a raindrop, but he turned out to be one,’ Oikawa added bitterly as an afterthought as he recalled the words.)_

_You have to forget those raindrops to appreciate the stars, because you can’t have both at the same time. You can’t get too caught up missing the raindrops while the stars are waiting for you. You can’t be broken about the raindrops drying up or vanishing, because the stars will always be there for you no matter what, even if they leave you for a little while._

And the reason he recalls these words? Iwaizumi Hajime, his best friend of countless years, boyfriend of 3, just broke up with him. It was by no means surprising. Lately, their relationship has been strained, and both of them were getting hurt in the process. But it still hurt.

 

* * *

 

“Tooru, I-I have to tell you something,” says Iwaizumi with his eyes cast down.

“Yeah, Iwa-chan?” he replies, not looking up from his book he's studying from. When he doesn't get a reply for a while, he starts to frown. Then he hears Iwaizumi take a deep, shaky breath, like he's trying to calm himself down. Now that makes him suspicious, and looks up from his book. He's beyond surprised to see Iwa-chan with his face cast down, tears running silently down his cheeks.

“Hajime, what’s wrong?” he asks frantically, running over to him, and cupping his cheeks in his hands. He lifts his head, and sees immense guilt and sadness in Iwaizumi’s eyes.

“Tooru… I-I don’t think that…that we,” he hiccupps, casting his eyes down, “that we should continue this.”

Tooru can only sigh resignedly, with a bittersweet smile on his face. He knew it would come to this sooner or later, but he didn’t have the courage to break up with Iwa.

“You’ve thought about this, haven’t you,” he says, and Iwaizumi only nods in response. Oikawa runs a hand through his hair. “Well, I had a feeling that we’d break up sooner or later, I guess. It’s just… not working anymore. It’s no one’s fault, but we can’t avoid this any longer.”

“I’m so sorry Tooru.”

“I know. Me too,” sighs Oikawa. “Friends?”

“Yeah, let’s try, but… I think we should give each other some space for a while,” Iwaizumi answers, wiping his eyes with the back of his hands.

 

* * *

 

After his talk with Iwa-chan, Tooru goes for a walk to clear his head a little. He doesn't watch where he's going, he lets both his mind and his feet wander. The white noise of the cars or the people out on the street doesn't reach his ears. He's wondering, what led to this. To breaking up. He knows all the reasons: the fights over small things, the fights over bigger things, the hurtful words they threw at each other in some of their fights. They made up after those fights, like all of them, but their effects still lingered. His brain knows all those reasons, but his heart doesn’t want to believe them. Because despite all the fights, Tooru still loves Hajime.

Soon he finds himself in the nearby park. He can remember all those things he did here with Hajime. The morning runs, which then sometimes turned out to be races to see who was faster (it was always Hajime), or the dates they had here. The day they had ice cream in the summer and Hajime smeared it over Tooru’s face and then kissed it all off. Or the day they had a picnic underneath that big oak tree and they fed each other strawberries.

Those memories hits him hard in the chest, and he knows he can’t take this anymore. He sinks down onto a bench, and then takes a deep, shuddery breath. Biting his lips, he lifts his head, but it isn’t enough. The tears break through, and once they start, they can’t be stopped. Oikawa buries his face in his hands, and just sits there. He doesn’t know for how long, but he sits there and weeps for a love lost.

Once he feels his tears running out, he tries to steady his breathing, and runs his hands down his face. He tugs the sleeves of his hoodie down his hands, and wipes at his eyes. He stands up, and takes another deep breath, facing the sky. It's a clean night, the stars and the moon shining down on him.

He takes his phone out to check the time. It's 9.30 pm, so Mattsun and Makki should be at home.  He sends a quick text to Iwa-chan while he is walking that he’ll spend the night at theirs and that he’ll be back home tomorrow morning to talk.

His feet carries him automatically in the right direction, having walked that route a thousand times before. Soon, he finds himself at Mattsun and Makki’s apartment complex, and he punches in the right numbers - 28 - to ring their apartment.

“Matsukawa and Hanamaki residence, who’s there?” comes Mattsun’s grainy voice from the speaker.

“It’s Oikawa, can I spend the night? Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, it’s just… there was a lot of shit going down and I forgot,” he answers with a sigh.

Mattsun doesn't even answer, just lets him in. Oikawa pushes the front door open, and walks up the stairs. Mattsun and Makki’s apartment is on the second floor, so it's unnecessary to use the elevator, it’d just waste his time. When he arrives at their door, it's already slightly ajar, a silent invite to just come in.

“Hey guys, sorry for the intrusion,” he calls out once he steps in, closing the door after himself.

“Hey Oikawa! What brings you to our humble abode?” asks Makki, coming out of the living room, and leaning on the doorframe.

Oikawa busies himself with putting away his shoes, trying to delay looking up at his friend as much as possible.

„I’ll tell you in a minute, just let me put my coat on the rack,” he says, still not looking at his friend, so he completely misses the confused and worried look Makki gives him.

When he does look up at his friend, Makki is shocked to see Oikawa so disheveled and emotionally exhausted. He's usually so completely put together, not showing his sadness and pain to others. He didn’t even cry in front of them when they lost to Karasuno in their last tournament and everyone was crying around him. So seeing Oikawa like this rang the alarm bells inside Makki’s head.

Oikawa walks to the living room, brushing past his friend, and Makki can see that his eyes are red from crying. Oikawa plops down onto the couch, next to Mattsun, who shots a worried look to his boyfriend. Makki just shrugs, and sits next to Matsukawa on the armrest of the couch.

“Oikawa, what the hell happened?” asks Matsukawa with furrowed brows. “You usually don’t come over this late without asking first.”

“Iwa-chan and I broke up.”

“What the actual fuck,” says Hanamaki with eyes blown wide, looking at Matsukawa with a concerned look.

“Y’know, to some extent I’m not even surprised. We had a lot of fights lately, and it was just hurting both of us. But fuck, it hurts, because I still love him and we’ve decided to try and stay friends because we’ve been friends way longer than we dated and it’d be a waste to throw all those years away because we didn’t work as lovers and it fucking sucks and we both need some space for a while but I have no idea where to go or how to approach this situation,” Oikawa rants without taking a breath, so by the time he's finished, he's out of breath and on the verge of tears.

Matsukawa and Hanamaki just sit there, not saying a word. They don’t know what to say, so they opt to stay silent. Oikawa sits hunched with his face buried in his hands, and the only thing Mattsun can do is to put a hand on his back, trying to console him.

“Well I don’t know how you should act around him, but you can stay with us for a while, if that helps,” he says.

To that, Oikawa peeks out from his hands, and nods. “Thanks, Mattsun.”

After that, they steer away from serious talk and just talk about their lives in general. Makki tells Oikawa about the time when he went to a local coffee shop and the barista, who was a messy haired guy, but he was hilarious, and his friend, a loud and beefy guy with the weirdest hair ever were talking about how we don’t know what the dinosaurs sounded like. And that got Makki interested and chipped in with how they could’ve talked in German and to that the weird haired guy just replied with ‘Guten Morgen Herr Pterodactyl!’ and then all three of them lost it.

“Okay but you didn’t ask their names?” asks Matsukawa while trying to stop the laughter bubbling up. Even Oikawa's smiling slightly.

“Shit, no, I forgot. But after that I went back a few times and they weren’t there,” he shrugs.

He looks at the clock, and saw that it's way past 11 pm. All of them has morning classes, Oikawa even has morning practice, so they decide to go to bed. Oikawa takes the couch, insisting that it’ll be fine.

However, sleep doesn’t come easily to Oikawa that night. He's just tossing and turning, tangling the sheets underneath himself. In his head, his conversation with Iwaizumi earlier that day plays on repeat. When he tries to think of something else, the only thing his mind supplies are the fights they had. Funny, how in hindsight all of their fights could’ve been avoided if only they talked. But nothing could be done now.

When he finally falls asleep, he dreams of the past, of the happy days, with Iwaizumi by his side. Of their fingers linked together, lips on cheeks and lips and necks and stomachs. Of tosses and spikes and high fives and hugs and tears of joy. Of back slaps and tears and frustration shared together.

In the morning, he wakes up with tear-stained cheeks and no memory of his dreams, but a lingering sadness is there the whole day.


	2. broken glass in morning light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oikawa and Iwaizumi have a talk, Oikawa spends a few days at Mattsun and Makki's apartment, then heads back to his own. Can he and Iwaizumi live together again after their break up?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys!
> 
> First of all, thank you **so** much for all the kudos and comments, they really made my day <3  
> Second, this chapter is a bit early and longer than the first, but I hope you won't mind ^^  
> I'll try to get the next chapter out in the next two weeks as well, but uni will start up again, so I'm not promising anything. But I promise Kuroo is going to show up officially in the next chapter, I can't wait for you guys to see how he's showing up!
> 
> chapter title is from MCR's Save Yourself I'll Hold Them Back  
> kudos and comments are always appreciated <3
> 
> hmu on [tumblr](http://just-a-racehorse-on-the-track.tumblr.com) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/annakaashi)

When Oikawa wakes up, it's 5.45. He feels like he was run over with a truck and he didn’t even drink the night before. It's probably because of the crying. He turns over to his back, staring at the ceiling. He has to go back to his shared apartment with Iwaizumi, if not for to stay there, at least for some clothes for the next few days or so.

He gets up, and stretches his back. No matter how he insisted he’d be fine with the couch, it wasn’t comfortable. At all. But he’d rather take this than an awkward night with Iwaizumi back in their own apartment. He quickly gathers the sheets and folds them, then puts them down on the corner of the couch.

Once he's done with that, he shuffles into the kitchen, trying to suppress a yawn, though with little to no success. Mattsun's already standing in front of the coffeemaker.

“Morning,” he mumbles to Oikawa, while trying to make the coffeemaker brew faster with a glare.

“Good morning, Mattsun,” he answers, looking through the fridge for some food to eat. They’ve been friends for enough time now that they feel comfortable just to look through each other’s fridge or just come up to the other’s apartment uninvited. Though the latter was mostly Makki and Mattsun crashing at their place when they were out of food and wanted someone to feed them, because they couldn’t be bothered to cook. And they knew that both Oikawa and Iwaizumi were good cooks.

“I’m heading back home after breakfast, but if your offer to stay here for a while still stands, I’d like to take up on it,” says Oikawa while he's munching on some toast.

“’Course it still stands. We can even bring up the futon from the storage so you don’t have to sleep on the couch,” Matsukawa answers, pouring milk into his coffee.

Oikawa shuffles next to Mattsun with a mug he retrieved from one of the cupboards, and pours himself some coffee. He puts an ungodly amount of milk or sugar into it, and Matsukawa flinches as he puts them in his coffee.

Once he's done with breakfast, he quickly dresses up and says goodbye to Hanamaki and Matsukawa, promising that he’d contact one of them later about his stay.

His walk back to the apartment is a quick one. He has to collect his training gear and talk to Iwaizumi within half an hour, if he wants to make it to morning practice in time.

As soon as he steps into their apartment, he calls out to Iwaizumi that he's home. He doesn’t go into the kitchen, however, where he knows Iwaizumi would be at this hour. It isn’t like he wants to avoid him, he just wants to collect his thoughts before their talk. And anyways, he has to get his training gear from their room.

While he absentmindedly searches for his training stuff around the room, he wonders what he could say. He thinks about how they could breach the topic of their break up and how to handle staying friends. How they could arrange living together again. How much time they need apart from each other. All of them would be heavy topics, but they need to talk these out, so at least their currently fragile friendship doesn’t fall to pieces before they can salvage it.

“Iwa-chan, can we talk?” he calls out to the other man while straightening up and hoisting his bag on his shoulders.

“Sure, I’m in the kitchen,” comes the reply.

Oikawa puts his bag down in the genkan and walks back into the kitchen. Iwaizumi is sitting at the table, cradling a mug of coffee in his hands.

He looks up and greets Oikawa with a ‘hey there’. Oikawa sits down as well, and starts to fiddle with his fingers.

“Hey yourself. So umm… I don’t really know what to say, so I’ll try to wing it. I honestly don’t know how or when can we get over this, but I don’t want to lose you, just because we weren’t working as lovers. You were my best friend first and foremost, and I know we can be like that again with a little work. It’s just… I don’t know how much time we need to be apart. I mean, before we can go back to living together,” he says, looking down at his hands.

“I don’t want to lose you either, Tooru. We’ve been friends for so long I think it would be just simply weird without you. Definitely too quiet. But I don’t know either how much time do we need to completely get over this and just be friends again. I was thinking about it last night. I don’t think we need more than 5 days apart from each other, in terms of staying in the same apartment at least. It will most likely get awkward at some times but we need to work our way around that,” he answers. The silence between them has an air of awkwardness and discomfort around it.

“Yeah. I can stay at Mattsun and Makki’s for those 5 days, I talked with them about it,” Oikawa says after a few, unsettling moments, and glances at the microwave’s clock. “Anyway, I need to go to practice, but I’ll be back in the afternoon after classes for some clothes and stuff.”

He stands up, and goes to the genkan to put on his shoes. He hears Iwaizumi follow him, but he doesn't look up to see where he is. Just as he's putting on his coat, Iwaizumi speaks up.

“Oikawa, you know I lo-“

“Iwa-chan, don’t. Not when you don’t mean it sincerely. Maybe, when all of this is over and we’ve moved on. But not now,” he interrupts, and hefts his bag on his shoulders.

As he walks out the door, he doesn’t look back.

 

* * *

 

 

Practice is though that morning for Oikawa. He can't concentrate properly, so some of his tosses aren't as sharp as they usually are. His serves aren’t the best, either. He unconsciously puts too much force into them, so they go a bit wild, and even the ones that had some semblance of control, couldn’t be saved by their prodigy of a libero.

At the end of practice, he's sitting on the bench with a towel covering his head, completely immersed in his thoughts. He shouldn’t let his emotions get the better of him in practice or in matches. He needs to keep a cool head or he might be switched out, and he doesn’t want to give up not even one minute, not even one second on the court to play.

He stands up, and heads back to the locker room to have a quick shower and change. After he's done with that, he heads to his first class of the day, which is Biomolecular Engineering. It's an interesting class, and Oikawa likes it. It's definitely challenging sometimes, especially with all the chemistry knowledge it requires.

As he's walking to the building, he can hear people talking about him. Well not exactly him.

“Hey, did you hear that Oikawa broke up with his boyfriend? Man, I-“ says a girl animatedly to her friend as she's walking past him. How did they even found this out? Sure, Oikawa was popular even here, but this was taking it to another whole new level.

The whispers and rumors continue throughout the day. Some are subtle whispers, others are stares and loud exclamations. By the end of the lectures and classes, Oikawa is utterly exhausted, and luckily, on Wednesday afternoons the volleyball team doesn’t have practice. If he had to go to a 3 hour long practice now, he would have just messed it up even more than he did in the morning.

So he heads back to his apartment with Iwaizumi to get his clothes for the next five days. He doesn’t spend too much time on selecting the clothes or folding them, he just throws them into a bag. He goes to the bathroom, and throws his toothbrush and toothpaste in the bag as well. He checks his bag to see if he left something out, but it seems everything was in order.

Walking to Mattsun and Makki’s apartment, Oikawa sends a message to Makki.

 

> To: Makki
> 
> _17:24_ I’m on my way now, be there in 10
> 
> From: Makki
> 
> _17:25_ Kay, I’m still working but Issei’s home

True to his word, Oikawa arrives in ten minutes, and Mattsun lets him in. Once Oikawa puts his bag down, they go down to the storage room to get the futon up to the apartment. They don’t set it up immediately, as it would just take up the little space they had.

The jingling of keys make them stop in the middle of their conversation.

“I’m home!” comes Makki’s voice from the genkan, and Mattsun stands up to greet his boyfriend.

“Welcome back, Hiro,” he says with a smile, and leans down kiss Makki.

Oikawa has seen his friends kiss a lot of times before, but now, somehow, he just can’t watch it. Seeing them so happy and in love makes him feel a lot of things. A little bit of jealousy, an overwhelming amount of sadness and another feeling he can’t name. If he really had to name it, it would be longing.

Seeing his friends like that makes him wish for this kind of relationship again. One where he or his partner comes home and greet each other with a smile and a kiss. Where they can go out and hold hands and kiss. Where they can just lunge on the couch and talk to each other and laugh or watch a movie snuggled up to each other. Where they can wake up beside each other. Where when one of them cooks in the morning, the other comes into the kitchen, and wraps his or her hands around the other’s waist and kisses them on the neck.

“Oikawa, is everything alright?” asks Makki.

“Um, yeah, why are you asking?” he replies, his brows knitted in confusion.

“Are you sure? You’ve been crying for a while,” Makki points out, with his brows furrowed. Oikawa lifts a hand to his cheek, and he's surprised to find it wet with tears when he pulls his hand away. He didn’t even notice when he started crying.

“Yeah, I’m sure. It’s just… sometimes I overthink, but nothing to worry about,” he beams at them. However, the tear-stains running down his face and his smile paints a controversial image.

 

The next few days fly by, and before Oikawa knows it, it's Sunday and he's already packed up his things at Mattsun and Makki’s apartment, and ready to go back home. Well, as ready as he can be. The days he spent without seeing Iwaizumi actually helped a lot, but he still isn’t completely fine. It would be a long time before he was.

Makki and Mattsun were really good at distracting him. In the evenings, when Oikawa wasn’t dead on his feet because of training or Makki wasn’t falling asleep standing after a grueling shift at the restaurant he was working at, they were playing video games and just talking. Some nights they had takeout and on the other nights Oikawa whipped up a quick dinner for them.

It was good while it lasted, but Oikawa feels like he can’t impose on them anymore. Not only is it rude, but he feels like he can’t take seeing them so happy and in love anymore. It isn’t like he's jealous, but every time he looks at them, he's reminded of what he lost.

They tried to be considerate around him, but he could see them nuzzling their faces into the other’s shoulder when they thought he was busy. The subtle touches, a caressing hand here, a quick peck on the cheek there. The domesticity of their routines.

As he's standing in their genkan, coat already on and his bag by his feet, he searches for things to say.

“I’ll be off then. Thank you for having me these five days,” he says with a slight bow.

Mattsun dismisses him with a wave of his hand. “C’mon, Oikawa, no need to be so formal! We’ve been friends for what, six years now?” he asks with a grin, and Tooru smiles despite himself.

“Yeah, yeah, but really guys, thank you so much.”

Mattsun just hugs him. “Anytime. And please, take care of yourself,” he says, and Tooru squeezes him a little. Once they let go, Makki hugs him as well, and Tooru's almost overwhelmed by their support.

“See you guys later,” he waves as he opens the door, and steps out.

The walk back home is a pleasant one. The weather is nice, despite it's March, and a lot of people are out in the park near their house. Families, who took the children out to the playground after lunch. Couples out on dates or just walking their dogs. Runners and cyclists, who make a good use of the nice weather with going out to exercise.

Soon, he reaches his apartment building, and punches the code in to open the door. He takes the elevator to the 7th floor, and walks up to their door. He takes out his keys, but doesn’t slide it into the lock yet. He takes a deep breath, then opens the door.

“Iwa-chan, I’m home!” he calls out as he steps into the genkan. He quickly sheds his shoes and coat, and after putting them away, he walks to their room.

“Welcome home!” says Iwaizumi as he walked out of the study.

To avoid contact and the surely awaiting awkwardness for as long as possible, Oikawa busies himself with packing, but since he didn’t take too much stuff with him, he's finished in a record time. They look at each other for a while, an uncomfortable feeling seeping into the air between them and Tooru gulps. It’s now or never.

“So, Iwa-chan, how are you?” he asks, and he groans internally. Seriously Tooru? ‘How are you?’ Of all the questions, he asks this one. But he could’ve done worse. He could’ve said ‘Nice weather we have, don’t you think?’ and make it even more awkward.

“I’m good, thanks. You?” he says, the atmosphere never lightening between them.

“Honestly, I’ve been better, but Mattsun and Makki helped a lot. What were you up to?”

“I had an assignment of a building plan I had to do, and I was doing that. They assigned an other one, so I’m working on that now,” he answers. As an architecture major, Hajime had to draw a lot of building plans, and whenever he was done with one, they got another.

“That’s nice, I guess,” Tooru says, scratching the back of his head. They look at each other, and after a few moments of staring, they both start to speak.

“Iwa-chan, I was thinking-“

“Tooru, I thought that-“

“Oh, sorry, you can go first,” says Oikawa, looking down. Hajime nods.

“No, it’s okay. So while you were staying with Matsukawa and Hanamaki I thought that sleeping in the same bed would be… kind of awkward? So I thought that we should turn the study into a bedroom one of us can use, so we don’t have to share,” he says, trailing off at the end, as if he isn’t sure Oikawa would like this.

“I was actually about to say the same. It’d be a few days though until we can get furniture in there, though. So I think the spare futon would do until we can get a new bed there,” he adds as an afterthought.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Iwaizumi agrees.

So they set up the futon in the study, and Iwaizumi says that he’ll take it, because he wants to work on his drawing more and doesn’t know how long he’ll be up. At dinner, they sit at the table in silence, only the utensils clinking occasionally. Showering was a quick ordeal for both of them, since neither of them take too long in the bathroom. After a quick ‘good night’, they retire to their respective rooms.

The bed feels nice after nights on the futon Makki and Mattsun owns. But at the same time, it feels weird. It's too big, and too cold even under the covers. Something is missing. The feeling of a dent on the other side of the bed. The soft snoring and shifting. An arm around his waist. The tickling feeling of someone breathing on his neck.

Oikawa falls asleep that night clutching one of Hajime’s pillows to his chest as he breathes in the familiar scent with tear-stained cheeks.


	3. still hurting from the one before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mattsun gives advice, and Oikawa takes it. Will it turn out good or bad? And just who is that guy with that joke of a hair?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there, I'm back with another chapter! And in this chapter we finally meet Kuroo! I was honestly vibrating with excitement when I wrote that part, I'm really excited for you guys to meet him officially! Also sorry, the end may have been rushed a bit.  
> I also wrote a flashback in here, and I'd like some feedback if you guys would like it if I put some flashbacks in the chapters from now on.  
> You can probably also see that I changed my username. It was because I changed it on [tumblr](annakaashi.tumblr.com) because the old one was getting long and well, old. So you can find me at my new username there and on [twitter](https://twitter.com/annakaashi) as well! ^^
> 
> and thank you guys so much for all the kudos and comments, I really really appreciate those, they never fail to make me smile <3 keep up the good work <3
> 
> ps. I hope you don't mind this chapter's length  
> pps. not beta'd, just like the ones before. I forgot to mention those in the first two chapters. also if you find any mistakes, just tell me :)

The next few days go by in a similar fashion. In the morning, breakfasts are filled with awkward silence or forced small talk. Throughout the day, they don’t meet at all, but the whispers of the break up follow him everywhere – to practice, where girls who have the time came to watch the team, to classes, where the girls in the row behind him are trying to guess the reason. After afternoon practice, he goes home and locks himself into his room, throwing himself into studying, trying to take his mind off everything that is happening around him. Dinner is usually just like breakfast. Honestly, Oikawa is getting really tired by this routine they’ve set up.

Before Oikawa knows it, it's already Saturday afternoon, which means that the furniture Iwaizumi ordered online for his room is arriving today. Tooru feels like it will really finalize the relationship between them. There will be no going back.

He doesn't want to be there when the furniture arrives. He decides that he’ll head down to the local gym to do some strengthening exercises. He grabs his bag, and with an “I’ll be back later, Iwa-chan!” he walks out the door.

The gym isn’t in walking distance, sadly, so he has to take he bus. After arriving, he walks to the changing rooms, and once he's changed into his gym clothes, he heads to the weight room. He passes the volleyball court on his way there. He stops, and peeks inside when he hears the squeaking of the shoes and the shouts of the players.

“Hah, take that, you damn cat!” shouts a fairly tall, brown haired guy.

“My my, Daishou, don’t get too riled up,” says a tall, black haired guy with a shit-eating grin evident in his tone, “if you do I might happen to block you again.”

The brown haired guy, apparently Daishou, scowls at the other guy, but doesn’t retort anything. The match continues, and all Oikawa can watch is the black haired guy. He is a really good player. His blocks are both high and precise, his receives are solid and his spikes are strong. His jump serves could use some more control but they are good overall. Oikawa would like a guy like that on his team.

He gets so immersed in the match that he doesn’t realize he’d been standing there for half an hour already. He tears his eyes away from the black haired boy, and goes on his way to the weight room. Before starting the training he has in mind, he stretches, knowing full well that if he doesn’t stretch properly, he could do more damage than good.

After stretching, he goes through his usual routine. It's a fairly long one, so it takes him about one and an half hour to complete it. By the end of it, he's thoroughly drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. He does his finishing stretches, then heads back to the locker rooms. On his way there, he stops at the volleyball courts again. There are still shouts and the sounds of shoes and balls hitting the floor coming from the courts, so he peeks inside, but it isn’t the same team he saw earlier.

He feels somewhat disappointed. The black haired guy’s movements somehow captivated Oikawa. They were fluid, and at same time strong and confident. Tooru shakes his head. He shouldn’t be spacing out while walking.

Once he changes back, he starts walking to the bus stop. While walking, he calls Mattsun.

“Hey Mattsun,” he greets when his friend answers the call.

_“Hiya Oiks, what’s up?”_

“Not much, just wanted to talk to you,” he answers. Technically, that is true. But he also wants a distraction from his thoughts, and Mattsun and Makki always did a good job at that, even if they didn’t know it.

“ _Okay, so what’s bothering you? And don’t you dare to lie because you know I know when you do_ ,” Matsukawa says. Apparently Matsukawa heard something in his voice that tells him that just simply seeing how his friend was doing was not the only reason he called.

Tooru sighs. “Honestly, I don’t even know anymore. I just… need a distraction. I clearly can’t play volleyball all the time, we know how that turned out. And I can’t bother you guys all the time, and Iwa-chan and I are still not really comfortable around each other. It’s probably because of me. It’s been what, two weeks now? I still have a hard time getting used to this whole new thing,” he says, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

“ _Look, you know I absolutely have no idea what that feels like, but maybe you could try dating again? I heard that sometimes that helps getting over someone and you do need to get over Iwaizumi,_ ” Mattsun answers.

Oikawa contemplates his words. Sure, he could try dating again. He knows he needed to get out more. In the last two weeks he didn’t really go out, not even with the volleyball team. They sometimes go out after practice to eat or for drinks, but Oikawa didn’t really felt like going out.

“Yeah, maybe. I just want to get back to a better mindset first. It wouldn’t be enjoyable if I’m miserable the whole time,” he says.

After that, they really just talk about life in general, but before Tooru can get home, Mattsun has to go. They say goodbye, and Matsukawa makes Oikawa promise that he’d get in touch with one of them soon.

He arrives home not long after that. Some boxes are scattered in the living room, the proof of the inevitable truth that there was no going back. Iwaizumi’s bed arrived and there is nothing anymore that indicates that they were together once. Just the memories they have of those times. For Oikawa, it's still painful to reminiscence about them.

 

* * *

 

 

_“Iwa-chan, hurry up! We’re not going to have a bed to sleep in if you take all day to get the boxes in here!”_

_“Shittykawa, I swear I’m gonna punch you in the face if you don’t stop. By the way, you could actually help me getting the boxes and we could actually start putting the bed together,” replied Iwaizumi, slightly out of breath._

_It was the day when they move into their new apartment. It had two bedrooms, one of which they would use as a study, a small kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom, in a size that was just enough for a small bathtub. It wasn’t fancy or big, but for two university students it was enough. It was freedom. Freedom from overbearing parents, whom they loved very much, but it was nice to get away from them. It was a new start. The start of their university days that were going to be so much different from their high school lives. It was everything two young men could wish for._

_“Okay, okay, I’m coming,” Oikawa said, throwing up his arms in surrender. He picked up one of the smaller boxes, not wanting to strain his knee too much. It was fine most of the time, but sometimes it hurt for no apparent reason._

_They took the boxes that contained the parts of their bed into the bedroom and started unpacking them. Their bed was a king sized bed, and they needed to put it together. Once all the pieces were out of their boxes, Tooru looked at the manual._

_“Iwa-chan, can we put this bed together? I mean it doesn’t look complicated, but are the two of enough to lift it and hold it together when we need to?” Tooru asked with furrowed brows._

_“Hmm? Let me look at it,” Hajime answered, walking over to Tooru, who was sitting crossed-legged on the floor. Iwaizumi looked over Tooru’s shoulder to have a look at the manual. Oikawa looked up at him. He had his brows furrowed in concentration._

_“Yeah, you might be right, it may be hard for just the two of us. I’m gonna call Makki and Mattsun over,” he said, reaching for his phone in his pocket._

_After half an hour, their bell rang. Oikawa went to open the door, while Iwaizumi stayed in the bedroom._

_“Heeey everyone, your saviors have arrived!” shouted Hanamaki as soon as he stepped into the apartment._

_“No, I’m pretty sure only Iwa-chan is my savior,” Oikawa said, not even looking back as he walked to the bedroom._

_Matsukawa gasped. “You hurt my feelings, Oiks,” he said as he walked after Oikawa with Hanamaki._

_“Eh, you’ll survive. What’s with the nickname, anyways?” he asked from the floor where he repositioned himself to his earlier pose._

_“Why not? You have nicknames for everyone, and they’re usually some shorter form of their names. Figured we’d have one for you as well,” he shrugged._

_After that, they quickly put the bed together and just laying or sitting on the bed, talking about nothing and everything. They ordered pizza, not having the energy anymore to cook something._

_It was one of the best nights Oikawa has ever had._

 

* * *

 

 

Next week, Oikawa starts to get even more confessions than he did in the last week. He doesn’t accept them. Not yet, anyway. He still isn’t completely sure in himself, or that he can just start dating again.

He still avoids Iwaizumi though. He comes home as late as possible, and he even started considering looking for a job, but he knows that with volleyball practice and work and university in full swing he won’t have any free time left if he wants to get a somewhat normal amount of sleep.

On Thursday that week, a petite, long haired girl called Aikawa Kazumi, waits for him after volleyball practice. As it was pretty late, he walks her to the station, and in the meanwhile, he strikes up a conversation with her. In those 10 minutes, he finds out that she has a good sense of humor and she's really intelligent. He also finds out that she is majoring in journalism. Once they reach the station, Oikawa bids goodnight, but a hand on his arm stops him from going away.

“Um, Oikawa-san, I don’t want to sound pushy, but I really like you and could you please go out with me?” she asks with her head down in a small voice, barely heard over the noise of the trains, her hair hiding her face.

Oikawa looks at her. He remembers the phone conversation he had with Mattsun last week. He also feels a lot better than he did at the start of the week, and he finds Kazumi interesting.

“Well, does Saturday afternoon work for you? I could meet you at 4 and then we could go somewhere,” he answers. Kazumi’s head shots up in surprise. She clearly didn’t anticipate Oikawa accepting her confession.

“Yeah… Yes it does. Thank you, Oikawa-san!” she says, bowing slightly.

Tooru only smiles and waves it off. “No need to be so formal with me, just Oikawa is fine,” he smiles at her, but it feels somewhat forced.

 

Saturday arrives in the blink of an eye. Oikawa's getting ready to meet with Kazumi at the nearby bakery, where they agreed to meet up. When he gets ready, he walks to the bakery, and Kazumi's already waiting there.

“Hello Kazumi-chan, I hope you haven’t been waiting for me for too long,” he smiles at the girl as he steps next to her.

“No, no, not at all, I’ve only just arrived myself,” she answers, fiddling with the hem of her skirt.

“Now, where shall we go? I thought a coffee would be nice, if you don’t mind,” Tooru looks at her curiously.

“Oh, I know a cute little coffee shop just a little further away, we can go there,” she beams up at him.

The walk there isn’t long, it takes at most 15 minutes for them to reach it. As they walk in, a somewhat familiar black head passes him, but he doesn’t notice the other barista shouting “See ya tomorrow, Kuroo!” at the passing figure.

They order their drinks, and Oikawa orders a cake for them to share. They spend about an hour at the coffee shop, mostly talking about their interests and hobbies.

As they are about to leave, Oikawa's contemplating what he should say to Kazumi. She's cute, but somehow he can't imagine himself and Kazumi dating.

“Kazumi, I…” he starts, and takes a deep breath. He needs to word this carefully, because he doesn’t want to upset the girl even more than he is about to. Kazumi looks at him curiously. “I really enjoyed this date, but I want to be honest with you. I don’t think this is going to work. I’m sorry,” he says, scratching the back of his neck.

“Oikawa, thank you for your honesty. To be honest, I was a little surprised that you even agreed to this date. It’s not because I think that you would just take advantage of me for something, it’s just because I know you went through a break-up recently, and didn’t think you’d jump back in so early,” she answers, looking up at Oikawa.

They part not long after that. They don’t say they’ll keep in touch, because neither of them expect the other to do so.

 

* * *

 

 

About a week later, Oikawa is getting ready to go on another date, this time to a restaurant with a guy named Takamori Hisashi. The guy asked him out after one of the classes he shared with him, as it turned out. They agreed to meet in the restaurant at 7 pm, and Oikawa was the one to recommend it, since it was nice, but still cheap and good.

He arrives ten minutes earlier. He's nervous, but he tries not to pay attention to his nerves. He has the unshakeable feeling that something is going to go wrong. The waitress comes, and asks if he wants something to drink. He declines the offer, saying that he’ll wait for his date, he should be here soon. The waitress just smiles and nods, then leaves him be.

Twenty minutes later the volleyball team files in. He knows that they’d go out tonight, he had been invited, after all, though he didn’t know they would come here.

“Hey, Oikawa! I didn’t know you’d be here!” one of their middle blockers say cheerfully. Tooru wants the floor to swallow him. It’s not like he doesn't like his team, on the contrary, he loves them dearly, but they can be so fucking nosy.

“Yeah, I’m on a date, so if you’d kindly leave me alone that would be appreciated,” he says with a sweet, but malicious smile that sends shivers down his teammates’ spines.

“Okay, okay, no need to be so stingy about it,” he grumbles, throwing his arms up in surrender, walking away, but he suddenly stops and turns around. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t look out for our precious setter!” he says, and winks at Oikawa. Oikawa can feel the color drain from his face. That’s why Tooru said they are nosy.

“Please don’t bother,” he mumbles, his words gone unnoticed by them in the noise of the restaurant.

His date still hasn’t arrived.

 

Oikawa gives up when his date was 40 minutes late. The waitress is sending pitying looks in his way and the rest of the team is glancing at him. He just wants to cry or disappear or both. He doesn’t even realized when a person sits in front of him, only when they speak up.

“Sorry, the traffic was terrible. It’s Saturday night, you’d think people would just stay inside,” the man in front of him tuts, shaking his head.

Tooru’s head shots up, and the first thing he sees is an atrocious hairstyle that somehow the guy can actually pull off really well, but it looks like that said hair hasn’t seen a brush in months. The guy probably takes his silence as shock (well he _isn't_ that wrong, a complete stranger with an even stranger hair just sat down in front of him) and quickly mouthes ‘please play along’.

Tooru shakes out from his shock, and replies. “Well you were the one who asked me out, I honestly don’t know what you were expecting.”

“Less traffic, that’s for sure,” he grins. He looks like he wants to say something, but the waitress interrupts them.

“Can I get anything for you to drink?” she asks. The guy (Oikawa still doesn't know his name) quickly skims through the menu, but he is visibly squinting. In the end, he just sighs and orders a glass of water. Oikawa himself orders another coke. Once the waitress leaves with their orders, Oikawa leans forward.

“So, who are you and why are you here?” he asks, a little vary and a lot suspicious at the guy.

The guy leans backwards on the chair, and crosses his arms. “Geez, do you always act like this to your savior?” the guy answers with his own question. “I’m Kuroo Tetsurou, by the way, and I’m here because you looked like you wanted the ground to swallow you and were like this close to crying,” he replies to Tooru’s question, holding his thumb and index finger millimeters apart.

Oikawa huffs, slightly offended. “Okay, fine, you pass.”

“So, do I get to know your name or is that only after the second date?” Kuroo asks with an annoying smirk plastered on his face. This guy is seriously starting to get under Tooru’s skin.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” hums Tooru. Kuroo drops the subject after that, and asks Oikawa about his hobbies.

As it turns out, they both play volleyball, and that Kuroo’s high school team went to Nationals when he was a third year. They talk about volleyball, and when their food arrives, the topics of their conversation steer away from volleyball.

“Hey, so I noticed you were squinting at the menu earlier. Why’s that?” Oikawa asks.

Kuroo looks up from his plate, and swallows before answering. “I actually need reading glasses, but I didn’t bring them tonight and I forgot to put my contacts in,” he shrugs.

“Oh, I see. I actually need glasses too, but I can’t see well in the distance. Some lectures only have open spaces at the end of the classroom and it’s a pain in the ass to make out what the prof wrote on the board,” he answers, knowing full well how frustrating that can be.

 

Before they realize, it's almost 10 pm, and Kuroo has to go.

“Sorry, I have the morning shift tomorrow and I need to be somewhat useful. I really enjoyed this dinner with you,” he says with a smile, and Tooru can’t detect a single false thing about that smile.

“Yeah, despite how my night was going, you weren’t a bad company yourself,” Tooru answers with a smile on his own, and he's surprised how naturally it comes to him.

“Oh, and don’t worry about the bill, I already took care of it, Shirofuku-san is a friend of a friend, so don’t worry about a thing,” he says, and with a grin, he's already out of the restaurant. Oikawa goes after him, and just shouts after him.

“It’s Oikawa Tooru, by the way!” Kuroo turns as he's walking, and as he continues walking backwards, he throws a thumb up, probably confirming that he heard him.

“What the hell just happened?” Oikawa whispers, completely thrown off.

 

* * *

 

 

Next week on Wednesday Oikawa goes back to the coffee shop he went to with Kazumi. He doesn’t really pay attention to who is the barista, but maybe he should’ve been more attentive. He blames it on the little amount of sleep he got and the lack of coffee in his system. He may already have had classes that day but that just only made him even more drowsy.

“A macchiato, please,” he says, when it's his turn at the register.

“That would be 250 yen. Anything else?” At the familiar voice, Tooru’s head shots up at lightning speed.

“You?!”


	4. caught up in a storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oikawa and Kuroo meet again, and strike up a friendship. And Oikawa meets an old acquaintance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> I am so sorry that this chapter is late, but I had a test this week and I was so stuck on a part for the last week I couldn't write anything.  
> But Lili was a sweetheart and had some amazing ideas and without her this chapter wouldn't be here right now, so I owe a lot to her now <3  
> Another thing: since uni is in full swing, I might set the update schedule for every 3 weeks instead of 2. I have a lot of tests and classes this semester and I don't want to fall behind on my studies. I honestly breaks my heart but I think it's for the best, and I don't want to post half-assed chapters because I was rushing to get it out.  
> tbh, I'm not really satisfied with this chapter and I might revise/rewrite a part of it later.
> 
> tl;dr: enjoy this chapter, and don't forget, kudos and comments are always appreciated <3 thanks guys for sticking with me<3
> 
> hmu on [tumblr](annakaashi.tumblr.com) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/annakaashi)
> 
> PS: this is not beta-read or proof-read by any means. it's late rn so I'll do the proofreading at another time when I'm more awake

Kuroo has been manning the register since he came in to work. His coworker, Sugawara is the one making the drinks that day, but he is only filling in for Tadano.

The bell hanging over the door chimes as someone steps in. Looking up, Kuroo sees that it's none other than Oikawa Tooru, in all his 184 centimeters glory. He doesn’t seem like he's paying attention to his surroundings, however. This gives Kuroo the chance to really look at the guy.

His brown hair is messy, but Tetsurou can’t decide if it is on purpose or not, because it has a look to it that Oikawa spent time to make it look like that. He also has bags under his eyes. Kuroo wonders what caused them to be there.

“A macchiato, please,” Oikawa says as he steps up to the counter, seemingly still not paying attention to his surroundings.

“That would be 250 yen. Anything else?” he asks the other man as he punches in the numbers to the register. He can actually see the exact moment when Oikawa recognizes his voice. His head snaps up at lightning speed, his eyes blown wide in surprise.

“You?!” he squeaks in an unnaturally high-pitched voice.

“What do you mean me?” Tetsurou asks back, despite knowing full well what Oikawa means with that simple word.

“Like, you’re the guy who was at the restaurant with me! Kuroo… Tetsurou, was it?” he asks with a hint of uncertainty in his voice. Kuroo only hums in response.

Meanwhile, Oikawa fishes some coins out of his pocket to give to Kuroo. He takes them, and puts them in the register.

“Hey, Suga, a macchiato for Oikawa here,” he calls to his coworker. Suga looks up surprised, just like Oikawa, whose eyes dart in the direction of the other man behind the counter.

“Refreshing-kun? What are you doing here?”

“Working, obviously. I go to uni here in Tokyo and I need money for rent and other essentials, like, y’know, food,” Sugawara answers, rolling his eyes. “But what’s more important, what are _you_ doing here?”

“Getting coffee to function? I also go to uni here so I’m actually surprised we haven’t met yet,” he says.

Kuroo just looked on with a questioning look on his face. “Okay, hate to break up this little reunion, but there’s actually a line and we need to go back to work,” he points out, pointing his thumb at the line behind Oikawa.

Oikawa looks over his shoulder, and nods.

“Suga will call your name when your drink is ready,” Kuroo adds. Oikawa moves away after nodding a second time, and goes to sit at a table.

 

After that encounter, Kuroo busies himself with the other customers. And in the blink of an eye, the rest of his shift goes by. Much to his surprise, Oikawa is still sitting next to the window, studying something. Once he clocks out, he heads to Oikawa, and sits down across him. Oikawa looks up with furrowed brows.

He looks slightly annoyed at Kuroo's presence. “Do you always bother your customers or am I just special?”

“Can’t a guy just sit down with you to simply talk to you?” Kuroo shots back with a smirk.

Oikawa just rolled his eyes. Kuroo took that as a sign to continue speaking. “So, how do you know Suga? And what’s with the Refreshing-kun nickname?”

“We played against each other back in high school.  And honestly, I don’t even know how I came up with that nickname, it just seemed to fit him at that time,” Oikawa answers.

Kuroo just hums. His eyes catch the empty coffee cup on the table.

“You really needed that coffee, didn’t you? To be honest, you look like death himself.”

Oikawa narrows his eyes at him. “Are you always like this to everyone you meet?”

“Why, I’m always this kind, thank you very much,” he says, putting his hand on his chest. Oikawa just scoffs at his attitude.

 

They continue talking for another hour, before Kuroo realizes that he needs to go, because he has a paper to write.

“Sorry to ditch you again, but I have a paper to write and if I don’t start on it now I’ll never finish it,” he sighs, and an idea pops into his head. “Hey, could I have your number? It was actually fun to talk to you, and I wouldn’t mind doing it again.”

Oikawa looks at him surprised. Kuroo mentally slaps his forehead.

“I don’t mean it in an I-wanna-date-you way, I just wanted to befriend you. I need new friends as the old ones are apparently too busy to even meet me,” he frowns.

“Fine, but that doesn’t mean I’ll come back here, you know,” Oikawa answers, putting his number in Kuroo’s phone.

Kuroo just laughs. “Sure, pretty boy,” he teases, getting a squeak out of the other.

“Honestly, you’re the worst, I don’t even know why I put up with you,” Oikawa huffs.

“Because I can get you employee discount on your coffee if you come here next time I’m working?”

Oikawa’s eyes go wide. “You would?”

“I told you I would. That’s what friends are for, right?” he smiles at him.

“Guess I have no choice then. Text me when you’re working,” Oikawa smiles back as Kuroo starts to head out. He bids goodbye to Suga and Nakagawa, and steps out of the coffee shop.

 

* * *

 

In the next two weeks, every time when he is working, Oikawa shows up without fail. Even on Sunday mornings. They kept in touch in those two weeks, and now whenever Oikawa comes in, one of his coworkers never fail to call out a “Kuroo, your pretty boy is here!” or something similar to that.

In those two weeks, their first encounter at the coffee shop becomes a routine. Oikawa would walk in, order something, sit down next to the window, pull out a book and study until Kuroo finished. Then Kuroo would join him, and spend the next one or two hours chatting. Except on Tuesdays, because Oikawa would have classes.

Kuroo learns a lot about Oikawa in those two weeks. He finds out that he had a sweet tooth, that he is in his third year and that he is in the volleyball team of his university. What surprises them both is that they go to the same university. Oikawa tells him that he went through a pretty bad breakup recently and that he still loves his ex, lives with him and is his best friend.

Kuroo has a feeling that the weary look Oikawa sports is not just because of university and volleyball practice being taxing and exhausting. It might have been almost two months since Oikawa and his ex broke up from what he is told, but to him, it's obvious that the other is still hurting from it.

And somehow, he can’t watch his friend (because Oikawa _is_  his friend) be like this. So he decides to do something about it. He doesn’t yet know what exactly, but he knows this can’t go on anymore.

The first thing he does was to invite Oikawa to his volleyball practice. Oikawa is a bit reluctant at first, not wanting to impose on them, but Kuroo convinces him to come next Saturday. They agree to meet at the bus stop in front of the campus.

As Saturday arrives, Kuroo packs his gym bag and goes to work. Knowing that Oikawa won’t wake up until absolutely necessary (another thing he learned in the last weeks, is that when Oikawa doesn’t have to get up, he would sleep in and nothing in the world can drag him out of bed), he prepares a coffee for him.

Having a sweet tooth, Oikawa puts a shitton of sugar into his coffee. Kuroo was horrified when he found out.

 

_Kuroo looked up as Oikawa walked in. Kaneshiro smirked._

_“Oh my, if it’s not your pretty boy,” he said to Kuroo. Kuroo shot a deadpan look his way._

_“Fuck you Kaneshiro.” The guy even had the nerve to laugh. Meanwhile, Oikawa walked up to the counter._

_“Hey, Kuroo. I wanna try something different today, do you have a recommendation?”_

_“Mhmm, caramel mocha, maybe,” he answered._

_“’Kay then, a caramel mocha it is,” Oikawa smiled, and fished some coins out of his pocket. Meanwhile Kaneshiro made the order, and gave it to Kuroo, who in turn handed it to Oikawa._

_Oikawa took a sip, and scrunched his nose. He went to the counter where they had all the sugar, spoons and stirrer straws and managed to put 3 whole packets of sugar into his coffee. Kuroo only watched with horror as Oikawa took another sip and nodded in satisfaction._

_“Don’t tell me you just put three packets of sugar into your coffee.”_

_“Uh, yes I did? It wasn’t sweet enough,” he answered like it was an obvious thing._

_“That coffee is literally the sweetest thing we serve here and you managed to sweeten it even more. I can’t even drink it blank, and you put more sugar into it. I can’t, I need a minute to process this,” Kuroo said. He turned away, muttering under his breath that Oikawa must be some kind of alien to put up with that much sweetness._

 

* * *

 

By the time Kuroo arrives to the bus station with his bag hanging on his shoulder and a coffee in hand, Oikawa is already waiting for him. He looks really sleepy, his eyes are barely open, despite being it way past noon. Kuroo greets him, and hands him the coffee. Oikawa takes it gratefully, and already starts drinking it. Their bus arrives, and they board.

Halfway through the way to the gym, Oikawa finishes his coffee and is already awake. The last half of their journey is spent with light chatter.

“Oikawa, why do you look like you carry your gym bag under your eyes? Don’t tell me you were up until 3 again watching Bones,” Kuroo asks, because the other had a habit to completely immerse himself in a TV show and forget about basic human needs, like sleep.

“No, I actually was up studying because we have a test on Monday,” Oikawa answers.

“Ah, okay, makes sense. Just, sleep sometimes. Can’t have the star setter of the volleyball team walk around like a zombie,” he smirks. “Though that would be interesting if you became a zombie. I could tell Bo that I actually know a zombie,” he contemplates, stroking his chin. The stubble under his fingers reminds him that he should actually shave if he doesn’t want to look like a caveman.

“And I actually thought you were an intelligent guy,” Oikawa sighs exasperatedly.

“Like you’re any better, obsessing over aliens,” Kuroo retaliates, knowing it would rile Oikawa up.

Oikawa just huffs, not giving Kuroo the satisfaction of rising to his bait. Their stop arrives quickly, and they get off.

“Hey, I go here sometimes to do some strength exercises!” Oikawa exclaimes.

Kuroo looks at him surprised. “You do?”

“Yeah! Last time I was here, I actually saw a team’s practice. There was a guy with black hair who was really good and there was another one, called Dai-something who called the other guy ‘damn cat’? To be honest, I didn’t really understand it,” he shrugged. Kuroo’s surprise morphs into a wicked smile.

“A really good black haired guy, huh? Pleasure to make you acquaintance.”

Oikawa looks at him, seemingly shaken to the core.

“Don’t tell me that was you! I just can’t seem to get rid of you, can I?”

“If the other guy was called Daishou, then sorry to inform you, but it was me. You’ll get to know that slimy bastard soon enough,” he grumbles.

 

Once they change, they go inside the gym, and start warming up. Kuroo introduces Oikawa to the others, and start playing. Looking at Oikawa play, Kuroo sees what makes him a formidable opponent and an amazing setter. He is glad that he got to play with a guy like him, and have him as a friend.

 


	5. all it's gonna cause is pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oikawa plays with Kuroo's team, then spends an afternoon at his apartment. And he meets someone important to Kuroo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh, hi, I guess.  
> So uh after a month I'm back with the next chapter. The last 3 weeks have been hell for me, I didn't even really had time to sleep, much less to write, so I am really sorry that this is so late. next one should be up in the next 3 weeks though, I hope.  
> I hope you'll enjoy this chapter <3
> 
> comments and kudos are appreciated <3  
> ps. this was in no way beta-read
> 
> EDIT 04/16: I changed the end because looking back, I was rushing a bit forward

As Oikawa watches Kuroo play, he is getting pretty sure that the guy must have been a cat, or a feline at least in his last life, because the way he moves is similar to a cat’s. Graceful, yet powerful. Elegant, and yet flippant at the same time. Flexible, yet stable.

For the first match, Oikawa can’t really watch Kuroo play because they are on the same team. After that match, they take a little break and mix the teams up, and he and Kuroo land on different sides of the net. Oikawa is in the vanguard for the first rotation, just like Kuroo. Tooru sees the other man walking up to the net with a chesire grin present on his face.

“Let’s see how well you can play against me, shall we?”

“Don’t get too cocky, you haven’t played against me yet,” Tooru answers with his own grin. Kuroo’s grin turns into a smirk, and he lifts his chin to look down at Oikawa.

“We’ll see,” he says, and as Daishou gets into position to serve, Kuroo calls out a ‘Nice serve!’.

 

The match goes on and on. The teams are equally strong, so it goes into the third set. Once they both reach 24 points, the deuce goes on and on and on. However, it's Oikawa’s turn to serve.

“Watch and learn, Kuroo, this is how you do jump serves,” he calls out to him. He doesn’t wait for Kuroo’s reaction, just walks to the back of the court.

He dribbles the ball a few times, and then takes it in his hand. He spins it between his hands, then tosses it up. ‘Ah, that’s a good toss,’ he thinks as he runs forward to jump. He brings his arm back, then snaps it forward, connecting with the ball. In seconds, the ball slams down on the other court with a loud thud, even before Tooru can land.

Judging by the incredulous looks, it landed inside the court. He can see Kuroo looking at the place where it landed a little bit shaken and with a lot of admiration maybe?

“Not bad, Oikawa. That was basically a cannon,” he turns to look at him, and Tooru just smirks at him. This point he got becomes a match point for his team.

He catches the ball, and gets back into position to serve again. The toss is just a tiny little bit off, so sadly it means that it isn’t that strong or accurate as the last one. As a result, it's picked up by a wing spiker on the other team, but the receive is long. The ball soars over the net back to their side of the court, and Tooru calls out a chance ball. He runs to the net, and sets it to one of the spikers. He doesn’t even land when he hears the telltale sound of a ball hitting the floor.

When he looks up, he saw that they actually won, and he is quickly swept in a group hug by the others. Once he frees himself from the hug, he glances at Kuroo. The man is watching his team with a soft smile on his face.

 

After the match, however, practice is over. They have a quick shower, and change back into their street clothes. Kuroo is slightly faster than Oikawa, so he's already out in the lobby, sitting on a chair when Oikawa arrives. When he hears Tooru approaching, he looks up from his phone.

“So, what do you want to do now? That is, if you want to,” Kuroo asks him.

Oikawa thinks about his options. He could go back home, and have a short, awkward conversation with Iwa-chan, then hide in his room for the rest of the day, or he could call Mattsun or Makki and ask them to hang out with him or he could take up Kuroo’s offer. Undoubtedly, the last one sounds the best. The first one is out of question compared to almost everything, and he doesn’t want to impose on his friends a lot after that almost-a-week he spent there.

“Well, I don’t know, but doing something sounds nice. Actually, I’m a little hungry,” he admits. Kuroo stands up, and hefts his bag on his shoulders.

“Alright. We can go back to my place, and then I can cook us something quickly. Or we can have takeout. Your choice,” he says, and starts walking out with Oikawa next to him.

“I really don’t want to impose on you,” Oikawa protests, but Kuroo waves him off.

“My best friend is there anyways, it really doesn’t matter if I cook for 2 or 3. Though we gotta stop by the store, I need some ingredients, my roommate probably used it all up,” he says. Oikawa grudgingly relents.

 

The trip to the store and the shopping doesn’t take a lot of time, and before Oikawa knows it, they are on the bus, riding back to Kuroo’s place. His apartment is somewhere between Oikawa’s university and another one Oikawa only knows about because their volleyball team regularly had practice matches against theirs.

Kuroo’s apartment is on the fourth floor. It isn’t big by any means, has two bedrooms, a small bathroom and a living room in the same space with the kitchen.

After they step in, Kuroo tosses his keys down into a basket. “Kenma, we’re back!” he calls out.

Soon, a short (well compared to him and Kuroo) guy with the most interesting hair comes out of the living room-slash-kitchen.

“We?” he asks in a quiet voice, “I thought Bokuto went to visit Akaashi this weekend.”

“Ah, no, he’s still there as far as I know. This is Oikawa,” Kuroo answers, walking past him into the kitchen to start on the lunch. At three in the afternoon but it doesn't really matter anyway, Oikawa had lunch at five once.

Oikawa is left with Kenma, and not knowing what to do, he decides to introduce himself properly.

“Oikawa Tooru, nice to meet you,” he says with a slight bow. When he looks up, Kenma's watching him, and for some reason, looking into Kenma’s eyes makes him uncomfortable. Like he is being analyzed. Taken apart. Being looked into. It makes him feel like he is a prey, and that despite the guy’s looks, he is not one to be messed with.

“Kozume Kenma, nice to meet you too,” he answers with that quiet and soft voice of his. It puts Oikawa on edge, not being able to read this guy. He gives away so little. Before Oikawa can feel awkward for just standing there, Kuroo peeks out of the kitchen.

“C’mon guys, don’t just stand there. Kenma, you still have the game on,” he says, and Kenma curses under his breath, then rushes back into the living room. Oikawa follows him, and sits down on the couch.

For a while, he watches Kenma play, but the urge to ask him some questions is getting harder to ignore.

“So, Kozume-san, how long have you known Kuroo?” he asks, not being able to hold it in anymore.

Kozume doesn't even look up from the screen to answer him. “Kenma’s fine. We’re childhood friends.”

“Oh, that’s… nice,” he says, not knowing what to say next. Kenma doesn’t look like a guy who would just strike up a conversation.

The silence continues, and only the sizzling of the food in the pan and Kuroo’s humming can be heard from the kitchen. Oikawa gets up, and saunters into the kitchen. He walks up to Kuroo, and looks over his shoulder.

“What are you making?” he asks.

Kuroo jumps a little, he probably wasn’t expecting Oikawa to come up to him. “Oh, nothing much, just curry. Should be ready soon,” he answers. Oikawa takes a look at him. He looks like he is in his element. The way he moves around the kitchen, the way he handles the food shows that he has practice at cooking.

“How long have you been cooking?”

“Hm, I think for a good three or four years now. Sometimes my mom had to travel because of her work in my last year of high school, so I had to learn if I wanted to eat something. It came in handy when I started uni, because Bokuto, my roommate can’t cook to save his life. He bakes some mean cakes, though, you have to try that one day,” he answers with a smile on his face.

“It’s true, nobody bakes a better cake than Bokuto,” comes Kenma’s soft voice from behind Oikawa, making him jump. Kuroo just snickers at his reaction, and Oikawa shoots a glare in his way, to which Kuroo just grinned. Kuroo turns back to the stove, and after tasting the curry, he turns it off.

“Oi, Kenma, get the dishes out,” he asks of him. Kenma just sighs.

“Do I have to?”

“If you want to eat, yes.”

“You would give me curry either way.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“You would.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“You would.”

Oikawa is just trying to catch up with their conversation, looking between the two of them. They bicker back and forth, and it reminds him a bit of himself and Iwa-chan back when they were still best friends and together and their conversations weren’t so awkward and uncomfortable. Well, technically speaking they are still best friends, but not like they used to be.

 “-kawa, hey Oikawa!”

Hearing his name, he snaps back, and he sees Kuroo and Kenma looking at him. He got so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the concerned looks he was getting from them.

“Ah, sorry, I just got a bit lost in my thoughts,” he says, scratching the back of his head.

“No worries, I was just telling you that the food’s ready,” Kuroo answers.

They sit down at the table, and Kuroo brings the rice and curry with him. After he settles in, they mutter a quick ‘itadakimasu’ and start on the food. Oikawa hasn’t eaten sweet curry much before, but the way Kuroo made it is delicious. After they are done with the meal, he says so to Kuroo as well.

 

They spend the rest of the afternoon talking and watching as Kenma annihilated everyone in the game he is playing. They also get him to play a few rounds of Mario Kart with them, as it's the only thing Kuroo can actually play, as it turns out. Not that he is very good at that either.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, you can’t just blue shell me when I’m finally in the top 3 for once in my life!” Kuroo exclaims when Oikawa’s hit takes him to the last place.

“Suck it up, Tetsu-chan,” Oikawa grins, not even bothering to turn and look at Kuroo.

“What did you call me, Chibikawa?”

Oikawa screeches indignantly. “I am not a shrimp, don’t call me that!” 

“Well, you are a shrimp compared to me,” Kuroo points out.

“By only a few centimeters! That doesn’t count!” He is starting to get it why Iwa-chan didn’t like it when they made fun of his height.

“Are you sure?” Kuroo smirks at him, and Oikawa looks back just in time to see him pass him at the finish line.

Oikawa groans, and puts down the controller. He leans back, and runs a hand down his face. Glancing at the clock, he can see that it's way past 8 pm now.

“Uh, I think I’ll head home, I don’t wanna impose on you guys anymore,” he says as he stands up from floor.

Kuroo stands up as well. “Well, you’re not imposing or anything, but if you need to go you need to go. You’re welcome back anytime,” he says, shrugging.

“Oh, thanks, I might take up on that offer sometimes,” he answers. He walks out, the living room after saying goodbye to Kenma, and quickly gathers his stuff.

“Do you want me to walk you to the bus stop?” Kuroo asks as Tooru's putting on his shoes.

“Yeah, thanks, I don’t really know this area,” he says gratefully. He really doesn’t want to get lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood. Kuroo pulls on his shoes and shrugs on a jacket, then tells Kenma he’ll be back in a few, then lets Oikawa out the door.

The walk to the bus stop is short and filled with silence. However, the silence isn't suffocating, not like back home with Iwa-chan. When they get there, there are only 5 minutes left until the bus arrives. Kuroo waits for it with Oikawa, and when it rolls in, Oikawa faces Kuroo, who's looking at the night sky.

“So, thanks for the afternoon. It was fun playing volleyball against you, and thanks for the food as well,” he says.

“It was nothing. The guys actually liked playing with you, so I guess you’re welcome to come anytime you feel like it,” he smiles at him. There's something glinting in his eyes, but Oikawa can’t put his finger on it.

The bus stops, and Oikawa steps on.

“See you tomorrow, I guess,” he says, and goes to take a seat, not even bothering to wait for Kuroo’s answer.

 

* * *

 

 

As Kuroo's walking back, he feels like he needs that short walk to clear his head. In the short amount of time he’d gotten to know Oikawa, he started to like the guy. And sure, he is a very characteristic and charismatic person, but he has a softness to it as well, and Kuroo's sure that Oikawa doesn’t show that just to everyone. Not to mention, he looks like a supermodel or something.

As he steps inside, he lets out a long sigh. Kenma comes out of the living room when he hears him arrive, takes one look at him, and shakes his head.

Kuroo notices him looking. “What?”

“Nothing. I just noticed something,” he answers.

"Well, let's go and finish that game."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmu on [tumblr ](annakashi.tumblr.com)or [twitter](https://twitter.com/annakaashi)


	6. can't seem to let you go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oikawa spends a night at Kuroo's, and they talk about stuff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so uhhh hey everyone!  
> first of all, thanks for being patient (or not, idk) and waiting for this chapter so much, it's just uni was kinda kicking my ass with all those tests and exams. luckily I'm almost done with this semester and should be able to have more time to write.  
> anyways, onto the chapter, and I hope you guys will enjoy it <3  
> ps: comments and kudos are appreciated <3

As Oikawa’s riding home on the bus, he’s thinking about the day he spent with Kuroo. He hadn’t felt himself that much alive since his breakup than today with Kuroo. He doesn’t know what to think of it. He knows that because of Kuroo, he’s starting to get out of his shell more and more. He is getting better. He might as well start dating again. Hopefully with more luck this time.

 

The next week continues on like usual. Going to volleyball practice, classes, meeting Kuroo at the coffee shop, trying to avoid the awkward situations at home by locking himself into his room. It isn’t ideal, but it’s a routine he became familiar with.

That routine, however, changes when Kuroo invites Oikawa to a movie night with him and his roommate. Oikawa’s reluctant at first, not wanting to impose on them, but Kuroo insists. He even threatens him that he would call his friend and then he won’t be able to say no, because apparently the guy is convincing.

So that’s how Oikawa finds himself in Kuroo’s apartment on a Saturday night, squished on the sofa between two muscular guys.

“So, Oikawa, what are you majoring in?” asks Bokuto, leaning into Oikawa’s face. His large, golden eyes are unsettling in his opinion. There’s a childish eagerness in them, and he can’t find an ounce of malice or dishonesty in them.

Oikawa leans back as much as he can, and answeres. “Bioengineering. And you?”

“I’m majoring in History, because I want to be a teacher,” he explains.

Oikawa’s honestly surprised. He wouldn’t have thought that the guy would want to be a teacher. It must show on his face, because Bokuto starts laughing.

“Didn’t really think I’d want to be a teacher, did you?”

Oikawa shakes his head. “To be honest, no. I thought you’d learn something like veterinarian or something like that. I could picture you working with animals.”

Bokuto smiles at him. “I thought about that too, but then I realized that I’m not really cut out for anything that involves chemistry and biology. That’s more Kuroo’s stuff, and I’ve always liked working with kids and liked history. It was my boyfriend, Akaashi who suggested I should try and go into teaching,” he explained, his smile going soft as he mentioned his boyfriend.

Suddenly, Oikawa feels envious. He wants to feel that again. To be able to talk about his partner to anyone and tell those people how amazing they are. To have others feel like he did now, that he had someone that made his smiles go soft and his eyes fill with fondness.

He shakes his head, and tries to focus back on the movie that is still playing. The others haven’t noticed him going silent probably anyway. He leans forward for the bowl of popcorn, and takes it in his lap, glad that there’s something he could fiddle with.

The whole scene reminds him of the times Iwa-chan and he would hold movie nights with snacks and soda and an army of pillows and blankets, snuggling on the sofa.

 

_“Iwa-chan, let’s have a movie night!” Tooru says as he bounds into the room._

_“No. You just want to watch Thor again because of Chris Hemsworth,” Hajime say, not even looking up from his laptop. He’s probably looking at building designs for one of his classes._

_Tooru plops down next to him on the couch, and leans into his side. “Yes, but have you_ seen _his arms? They are truly godly,” he says with a dreamy sigh that was more theatrical than genuine._

_Iwaizumi just rolls his eyes, and closes his laptop. He knows that he won’t get to study much more tonight, so he just gives up with a sigh._

_“I’ll set up the TV if you make the popcorn.”_

_Tooru springs up immediately, and rushes to the kitchen with a wide smile. When he got back, the movie was on the screen, and Hajime already got comfortable on the couch. Oikawa sets the bowl of popcorn on the table, and grabs a blanket from the back of the sofa. He lays down with his head in Hajime’s lap, and covers himself with the blanket. Hajime drapes a hand over his torso, bringing him closer to him. His other hand is carding through Tooru’s hair, and it feels so good._

_Tooru looks up at Hajime, and he marvels at how handsome he looks. His strong jaw is highlighted by the TV’s lights, and the shadows make his face look otherworldly. Tooru feels lucky, and he thinks to himself that he could stay like this forever._

As soon as he shakes the memory off, he focuses back on the movie playing. He doesn’t notice Kuroo looking at him, so it comes as a surprise to him when he bumps his shoulder.

“Hey, why do you look so glum? I hope it’s not because the popcorn isn’t salty enough,” he says with a grin.

Tooru shakes his head. “No, it’s not that, I just remembered something.”

Kuroo’s grin morphs into a much softer, knowing smile, and Tooru has a feeling that it’s also pitying. “Do you want to share? You don’t have to, but I usually find that talking about it actually helps,” Kuroo offers, but Tooru doesn’t feel like sharing. Not like this, and definitely not today.

“No, but thanks for the offer. I might take you up on that one day, though,” he answers, and then focuses on the movie playing on the screen.

 

He doesn’t know when or how he dozes off. The steady hum of the TV lulls him into a light sleep. His head is on someone’s broad shoulder, and it’s actually really comfortable. He wiggles a little so his neck isn’t angled weirdly, and sighs contentedly. The smell of the person he’s sleeping on is nice, too. It’s kinda citrus-y and minty. It’s refreshing.

“Hey, Oikawa, wake up,” the someone he’s sleeping on murmurs into his ear. From the voice he knows it’s Kuroo.

“Mhmm, five more minutes Kuroo,” he says, and burrows further into Kuroo’s shoulder. It’s nice and so so familiar like this, and he realizes he doesn’t want to get up.

Suddenly, he’s wide awake and bolts up, nearly knocking heads with Kuroo. “Oh shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sleep on you.”

Kuroo dismisses it with a wave of his hand. “It’s fine, but we should probably head to bed. I’ve set up your futon in my room, if that’s okay with you.”

Tooru just nods, and they get ready for bed. Once they’re tucked into bed, Tooru speaks up.

“Hey, Kuroo. About tonight…” he starts, but Kuroo cuts him off.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I mean it.”

Tooru shakes his head, even though he knows that in the dark Kuroo can’t see him. “I know, but I thought about what you said, and I realized I never really shared this with anyone.”

It’s true. He never said anything about it to Mattsun or Makki. Definitely not Iwa-chan – they haven’t had a real conversation since that morning in the kitchen.

So he tells Kuroo everything. He hadn’t known the guy for a long time, they met about a month ago, but he has a pull, an urge that tells him that he can trust and confide in Kuroo.

He tells Kuroo about how their break-up went down. That he knew that it was coming, that they were just hurting one another, but he was too scared and selfish to let Iwa-chan go. That despite agreeing to the break up, he still loved Iwaizumi, but he knew that it would be for the best. That it hurts to be so close to him, but not being _close_ to him anymore, not knowing what’s happening in his life, besides the tidbit information he gets from living together.

He tells Kuroo that he sometimes has flashbacks of memories from the smallest things, and it doesn’t help to help him get over this whole thing. That a simple walk reminds him of a date, that tonight’s movie night reminded him of the times they cuddled on the couch watching action movies. That seeing couples being affectionate with each other makes him jealous and that he longs for a relationship like that again. That despite trying to go out on dates, he never finds someone that sparks up an urge to get to know them better.

And Kuroo listens without interrupting, and it means the world to Tooru right now. To have someone that doesn’t know Iwaizumi and is impartial in the whole thing. It’s kind of… refreshing.

“Kuroo?” The other just hums, probably half asleep now that they finished talking. Tooru himself is drifting off to sleep. “Thanks for, you know, listening to me.”

“Anytime,” he mumbles.

“Really, thanks. It was…” he starts, but a yawn cuts him off mid-sentence. “Actually nice to tell all this to someone.”

“It was nothing. I’m glad you got that off your chest, you sound…” Kuroo trails off, searching for the right word. “Lighter. Less troubled.”

The remark surprises Tooru. He wouldn’t have thought that Kuroo would pay this much attention to him. He’s a sharp guy, despite all the crazy stuff he says sometimes. Freakishly perceptive and smart.

He doesn’t know how to answer. “Yeah, I guess. Good night.”

“Night,” Kuroo answers, and by the sounds of rustling sheets, gets into a more comfortable position.

Tooru can’t seem to fall asleep, despite how tired he is from all the practice and studying he did that week. The night is quiet and calming, and he ponders on the words Kuroo said to him.

Was it really that easy to get some tension off him? All it took was to talk to someone who didn’t know Iwaizumi? What does this mean for the future? Will he be able to Iwa-chan as they used to? To be best friends again?

With these questions swirling in his mind, he finally falls asleep somewhere around two in the morning.

 

 

Tetsurou wakes up at 6 am to the blaring of his alarm. He quickly shuts it off because he doesn’t want Oikawa to wake up at this ungodly hour. He’s actually an early riser, but he’s had four hours of sleep and sometimes he questions his decision to take the morning shift.

On the futon, Oikawa shifts, and Kuroo pauses, holding his breath and trying to make as little sound as possible, so the other man can sleep.

It’s funny, Kuroo muses, how different people can look when they’re asleep. The lines on their faces smooth out, and they look peaceful, like there’s no stress in the world.

Oikawa’s no different. His hair is all messed up, sticking up in places, and he’s basically buried under the covers. It’s actually cute, how he looks like a little kid.

“Kuroo? What’s the time?” Oikawa slurs with his eyes still closed.

“Six. Go back to sleep,” he whispers, and Oikawa burrows further into the covers. He probably falls asleep right away.

He gets ready quickly, and leaves a note that says that he’s at work and that they (meaning Oikawa and Bokuto) should come by when they’re up and they can get coffee. He’s putting on his shoes when Bokuto shuffles out of his room, rubbing his eyes.

“You’re going already?” he asks with a yawn.

“Yeah. Left a note on the table. Go back to sleep,” he says with a smile on his face.

Bokuto nods, and heads back to his room, and Kuroo steps into the stairwell, locking the door behind him.

 

He’s on his third hour when Oikawa and Bokuto stumble in. They look like they’ve just woken up (they probably have), but Bokuto’s already talking mile a minute.

“… and then by the third beerpong match I was kinda drunk so we lost that,” he rambles on about a party as they walk up to the counter.

“Hey guys. The usual for you?” he asks them, and they both nod. “So a diabetes for Oikawa and a cappuccino for Bo. Gotcha.”

Oikawa starts to whine. “When are you going to let that go?”

“When you stop drinking liquid sugar in a cup. Now pay up, I’m not giving you these for free.”

 "Fine. But one day I'll make you try this drink and you'll like it," Oikawa grumbles as he fishes some coins out of his pocket.

Tetsurou takes them, and puts them away. "Mhmm, sure. Good luck with that."

"I mean it!"

"Kuroo's been drinking his coffee black since I knew him," Bokuto says. "Never seen him put anything into it. He terrifies me."

Oikawa looks at Tetsurou horrified. "Not... even once?"

Tetsurou shakes his head with a grin on his face. "Nope!"

As they walk away from him to collect their coffee, he can hear Oikawa mumble 'A monster. He's a monster.' under his breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmu on [tumblr ](annakashi.tumblr.com)or [twitter](https://twitter.com/annakaashi)


	7. all I want is to fly with you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A beach day happens and an unexpected person visits Tetsurou at the coffee shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there!  
> So I know it's been a really looooong time since I've updated this fic, but life happened and honestly, I lost sight of _why_ I was really writing this fic, so I took a little breather from it and now I'm just really excited to post this chapter and write the rest of this fic because the good parts are now coming up! So thank you for waiting for this chapter! <3  
> ps: kudos and comments are always appreciated <3

Two months later, summer starts in earnest. The scorching sun beats down on Tooru as he walks towards Kuroo’s workplace.

Since it’s been really hot the last few days, they decided they would go to Yuigahama Beach with a few of their friends. As it was a weekday, there probably won’t be a crowd. Hopefully.

His bag is bouncing on his hip as he walks into the shop. The smell of freshly brewed coffee hits him, and he walks up to the counter. Kuroo is sprawled out on top of it, his head resting on his arm as he plays with a pen. With his other hand, he taps an unsteady rhythm on the counter. He looks like an overgrown, lazy cat.

When he hears Tooru approaching, he lifts his head to look at him. He lifts a hand in greeting.

“Hey there, Chibikawa,” he says, and Tooru sighs. This nickname is not going away anytime soon.

It all started when he found out that he was taller than Tooru by _three_ whole centimeters. Tooru can get it now why Iwa-chan always hated being teased about his height.

“Hey yourself, Kuroo-chan. You ready to go?”

“I have 10 minutes left of my shift, and I have my bag with me, so after I clock out we can head to the station. Do you want anything?”

Tooru shakes his head. “No, thanks, I already had coffee at home. Iwa-chan made some.”

“Speaking of him, how are you two? It seems like you two are getting along more.”

Tooru smiles. It _is_ true that the two of them are getting along more. Sure, it’s awkward most of the time, but now that more than four months have passed, it’s been easier. Tooru’s not over Iwaizumi, not by a long shot, but he’s getting there slowly but surely.

“We actually are. It’s still weird that I can’t just kiss him whenever I want to. A lot of times, I almost slipped when we met in the flat. It’s still lonely at night all by myself, and I think it’s going to take a while before I can get used to it. But I’m getting there,” he says, a nostalgic smile on his face.

Kuroo smiles at him. “I’m glad you’re doing better.”

Tooru is about to reply when someone pushes the door open. Konoha walks in, and Kuroo looks happy to see him.

“Oh, look who decided to finally show up to work. Was it really that hard to get up at 10 am?”

Konoha sneers at him. “Fuck you Kuroo.”

“Ehh, no thanks, you’re not really my type.”

Konoha doesn’t even bother to answer, just flips Kuroo off as he walks to the back rooms. Tooru doesn’t even bat an eyelash, it’s been like this most of the time.

When Konoha comes out of the back room, Kuroo says that he’ll be back in a moment, and then they can go.

True to his word, Kuroo is back in five minutes, and after bidding goodbye to Konoha, they head to the train station. The journey to Yuigahama takes about an hour, and they fill the ride with light chatter. When they arrive, they walk side by side to beach, while the heat beats down on them. The asphalt is scorching hot, and the buildings reflect the sun into their eyes. Luckily for them and their sanity, the beach isn’t far from the train station.

As they get closer, Tooru can see their friends standing in a group, waiting for them in the spot they previously talked about. Bokuto is the first to notice them, and he waves enthusiastically to get their attention.

When they reach the circle, Tooru looks around. There’s obviously Bokuto, who brought his boyfriend, Akaashi.  This is the first time Tooru meets Akaashi in person, but he’s heard of him from Kuroo quite a lot. From what he gathered from Kuroo’s stories, he’s a relatively quiet person, but don’t let it fool you because he can and will call you out on your bullshit.

Then there’s a very ‘I came very unwillingly but I couldn’t say no’ looking Kenma, and a very bouncy Hinata, who’s talking animatedly with Bokuto. Tooru was honestly surprised when he found out that Kenma was Chibi-chan’s boyfriend. At first, he thought that it was weird that such a reserved and quiet person would be willing to date such a loud and energetic person, but he was proven wrong when he saw how much they actually complemented each other.

Then there’s Kuroo and him, completing the circle. Looking at Kuroo, he notices how the other is more tan than the rest of them, and how there’s a fine sheen of sweat on the back of his neck.

“Now let’s get this party started!” Bokuto shouts, catching the attention of Tooru and some people passing by.

Akaashi looks at him with a disapproving look. “Kou, please, turn the volume down, we’re in public for fuck’s sake.”

Tooru almost gasps at the curse that left Akaashi’s mouth. He would’ve never thought that the pretty boy (because even Tooru can admit that the guy is just _fucking_ gorgeous) would have such a foul mouth.

“Akaashi-kun, I never thought you’d have such a foul mouth,” he blurts out despite not wanting to.

The man in question smirks at him. “Well then you’re in for a big surprise if you think I’m a goody two shoes.”

Tooru looks at him in confusion, not really getting what the other man means. A few minutes later, he _does_ get it, because Akaashi takes off his shirt, revealing his back to be a canvas of an owl tattoo, spanning the entirety of his shoulder blades. The ends of the wings finish at his biceps, the tail of the owl ending in the middle of his back.

After finding a place they all deem perfect, they put their things on a blanket under a beach umbrella. Tooru yanks his shirt down, fishes his sunscreen out of his bag, and turns to Kuroo.

“Can you put sunscreen on my back and shoulders?”

Kuroo nods, and takes the tube from his hand. He squirts some onto Tooru’s back, and starts to methodically work it into his skin. He closes his eyes, and loses himself in Kuroo’s touch. His hands and the way he rubs his back is… nice. His hands are warm and strong and Tooru somehow gets the feeling that Kuroo _knows_ how to ease the tension in his muscles.

Soon, the touch is gone and Kuroo breaks the silence. “There, all done.”

“Thanks,” Tooru answers, and turns back to him with a smile. “Want me to do yours?”

Kuroo only grins at him. “No thanks. I don’t burn.”

The slight redness on his cheeks makes Oikawa question this statement. So does the curious look Kenma throws their way.

They walk down to the beach after their more excited (Bokuto and Hinata) friends. The sand shifts beneath his feet with every step he takes, the grains sticking to the sole of his feet. It’s burning his feet, but it shifts into a cold, slimy feel as he nears the ocean. The water laps at his legs, and he welcomes its cold gratefully in the scorching heat.

Next to him, Kuroo doesn’t waste a moment to stride deeper into the ocean, jumping headfirst into the water as it deepens. Tooru himself submerges until his shoulders, the coolness of the water soothing his burning skin. He sighs in relief, but his relief is short lived, because suddenly his legs disappear from under him.

He shrieks, and then he’s underwater. The water’s still not deep, and he immediately kicks back up. He furiously wipes at his eyes, trying to get the water and his hair out of it.

“Kuroo-chan!”

Kuroo laughs, and when Tooru can finally see him, he can’t get himself to stay mad at him. He looks so happy and so simply _different_ with his hair down, that Tooru just smiles. He doesn’t think he has a crush on Kuroo, how could he, but he admits that Kuroo looks radiant like this. Laughing and happy.

“Hey, Tetsu, Oikawa, come here and let’s have a fight! I take Oikawa, you take Shouyou!”

“Oh, you’re on!” Kuroo swims over, and Tooru follows him.

Tooru scrambles up on Bokuto’s wide shoulders, and the other man holds him up like he weighs nothing. Hinata’s already up on Kuroo’s shoulder, and with a ‘You’re going down!’ Bokuto charges at the Kuroo-Hinata pair. Tooru and Hinata wrestle, and Tooru’s surprised that the smaller man has this much power. They go on for about two minutes before Bokuto loses his balance and they topple into the water.

 

* * *

 

 

They do a few other rounds with pairs switched up, and when they get tired of it, decide to get back to the shore. Akaashi is already back under the umbrella, his reading glasses perched on his nose as he reads a thick book. Kenma is sitting next to him, a big straw hat perched on his head even under the umbrella, as he draws something in his sketchbook.

Tetsurou saunters over, and drapes himself over Kenma’s back, his head bumping into the rim of Kenma’s hat, tipping it forward. He gets an elbow in his gut, and he lets out a grunt.

“Kenma!”

“Stop dripping over my sketchbook. Go dry off in the sun.”

“Fine, but you’re playing in the three versus three we’re playing later,” he smirks, and Kenma lets out a huff.

“Sure, sure. Not like I had a choice.”

He looks over at Shouyou, his eyes soft and fond. Tetsurou is glad that his friend found someone who appreciates him as he is and makes him truly happy. But the slight sting in his chest reminds him that he doesn’t have that someone. Not since he and Daishou broke up. It had been at least three years since then, and only casual flings for him. Sure, Daishou and him stayed kind of friends, they could play on the same team, but it always left him with a slight pang in his chest.

He looks over at Oikawa, and his stomach flips at the sight of him. He knows he’s starting to like Oikawa just a bit more than a friend, and he knows he can’t tell Oikawa this. He doesn’t think he’s ready, not yet. From what the other man told him, his dates are good, but not good enough for another one.

He also knows that Kenma knows. Kenma always knows.

So he just admires the other from a distance, glad to be close to him. But it still feels so damn far away, and Tetsurou wants to close that distance. He wants to run after him, grab him, and never let him go. He knows he can’t and it would just make Oikawa drift even more far away from him.

He snaps out of his thoughts when Bokuto shouts for him. “Oy, Kuroo, come on, we’re playing a game!”

He stands up with a smile on his face, and starts to walk towards his friends, momentarily forgetting about his feelings towards a certain setter.

 

***

 

He’s on the third hour of his shift when an unexpected person steps up to the counter.

“Hello, what can I get you?”

The man before him shifts his weight, and fiddles with the hem of his tank top. He’s muscular and tan, and Tetsurou can’t say he doesn’t appreciate the view he’s getting.

“Are you Kuroo Tetsurou?” he asks, catching Tetsurou off his guard.

He squints at the guy. “Yeah, I am, but the real question is who _you_ are.”

The guy seems to relax a bit, a slight smile curling on his lips. “Iwaizumi Hajime. Tooru talked about you quite a lot.”

Tetsurou’s heart, that _stupid_ , _treacherous_ heart of his, starts beating faster, hope fueling it. That one sentence was enough to have him hoping, and Tetsurou knows that it’s just going to bite him in the ass later.

“Ah, so you’re the famous-infamous Iwa-chan,” he says, and he honestly isn’t trying to make Iwaizumi uncomfortable, but his tone might have betrayed him. Just a tiny little bit.

Iwaizumi smiles sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “So he told you some stuff, huh?” He drops his hand, and shakes his head. “Anyways, that’s not why I’m here. His birthday is in two weeks, and knowing that dumbass I’m pretty sure he hasn’t told you. I’m throwing a party for him, and I think he’d be happy if you came too.”

“I’d be happy to,” he smiles. “What were you thinking about?”

“There’s a beach house a bit away from Sendai, and we were thinking about visiting the family back home anyways. So, beach party,” he explains, and Tetsurou nods along.

“It seems like a good plan. You can count on me, and I can help you if you want me to.”

Iwaizumi smiles at him gratefully. “That’d be great, thanks.”

After exchanging phone numbers, Iwaizumi leaves with a coffee in hand he ordered. He leaves a feeling of curiosity and apprehension in Tetsurou. The invitation leaves him excited and nervous. Nervous, because he has a feeling something will happen, something that won’t leave him more at ease, something that will only bring doubt for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmu on [tumblr ](annakashi.tumblr.com)or [twitter](https://twitter.com/annakaashi) ^^
> 
> just a little psa: the next chapter might take a while because I won't have literally any time to write in the next two weeks and then moving and school starting up again, so please bear with my slow updates! thank you guys for understanding<3<3


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